Round 32, May 8-10
The real news is the life-and-death battle in the relegation zone, but whenever Bayern München loses, it’s news, and given the champs recent suckiness, it becomes headlines. Certainly the heat is turned up a bit on Pep Guardiola, as there is no excuse to losing at home to the likes of Augsburg. Reserve GK Pepe Reina decided to try out a Neuerism, so after 13 minutes he ran out a chopped down Bobadilla outside the box, for which he received a red. What a doofus, only Neuer can do stuff like that. Nevertheless, Bayern again tikki-taka’d their way to total dominance, but Augsburg woke up and kicked them in the balls for a famous victory.
Stuttgart was a huge winner. Anything but a win against Mainz probably condemns VfB to the drop, and they pressed hard against the guests. But despiet the pressure, they weren’t able to break through, until Didavi grabbed the lead with some lame goal-keeping from Karius. A second goal then gave VfB relief and the needed points. Still dead last, but only a single point
Hamburg kept their head above water – barely. HSV was getting outplayed at home by Freiburg, and the relegation-six-pointer seemed to be going the Breisgauer’s way. But SCF wasted a couple of decisive chances, and were losing steam as HSV mounted a desperate last quarter assault. They were rewarded by Gojko Kacar, who also got the winner last week against Mainz. His last minute header saved HSV a point.
Hannover failed to get the result they needed against Bremen. The hard fought northern derby was generally controlled by the 96ers, but they couldn’t finish off Werder. And then when Junuzovic equalized, Hannover seemed stunned and almost ended up losing.
Paderborn was the “loser” in the drop zone, as they couldn’t get anything against Wolfsburg. SCP tried hard, and created a few chances, but the VWs were clearly the superior side an easily wrapped up a win. Paderborn has teh worst goal difference, so that could hurt, but with everything so close, they still have a good chance to save themselves.
Dortmund completely dominated Berlin and got an easy victory. BVB probably should have scored a half-dozen, but were content to get a win. Hertha might as well have stayed home, as they only managed two shots and were in general uninterested, apparently figuring they weren’t going to get a point anyway.
Gladbach was impressive against Leverkusen. They hadn’t beaten the Aspirins at home in 26(!) years, but they got a huge win. This also broke the Aspirins 10 match unbeaten streak. The match actually was pretty even, Leverkusen perhaps having the edge, but Gladbach was cold blooded in front of goal when they needed to be. This gives them almost certain qualification into the group stage of the Champions League, and a good position to battle for second.
Frankfurt ended any worries of slipping into the relgation zone as they easily overpowered Hoffenheim in a regaional derby. They came out strong and ended the match by half-time Hoffenheim was generally listless early, and by the time they woke up, the match was over.
Köln are also mathematically safe after outplaying Schalke. The Blues are limping to the end, and are hoping to hold off Dortmund for the final Euro spot.
Total attendance 481441 (avg 53,493), 98.5% capacity, sellouts in Hamburg, München, Dortmund, Gladbach, Hannover, Köln
Hamburger SV - SC Freiburg 1:1 (0:1) 57,000 *
0:1 Mehmedi (25., Guedé)
1:1 Kacar (90., Olic)
Bayern München - FC Augsburg 0:1 (0:0) 75,000 *
0:1 Bobadilla (71., Höjbjerg)
Borussia Dortmund - Hertha BSC 2:0 (1:0) 80,667 *
1:0 Subotic (9., H. Mkhitaryan)
2:0 Durm (47., H. Mkhitaryan)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3:0 (0:0) 53,715 *
1:0 M. Kruse (50., Herrmann)
2:0 Herrmann (81., Kramer)
3:0 Traoré (88., F. Johnson)
Hannover 96 - Werder Bremen 1:1 (1:0) 49,000 *
1:0 Stindl (21., Briand)
1:1 Junuzovic (78.)
Eintracht Frankfurt - TSG Hoffenheim 3:1 (3:0) 50,600
1:0 Oczipka (18., direct freekick)
2:0 Seferovic (27., Stendera)
3:0 Chandler (34., Oczipka)
3:1 Volland (51., direct freekick)
VfB Stuttgart - 1. FSV Mainz 05 2:0 (0:0) 54,300
1:0 Didavi (66., Serey Dié)
2:0 Kostic (78.)
SC Paderborn 07 - VfL Wolfsburg 1:3 (0:2) 14,659
0:1 Klose (16., Rodriguez)
0:2 Dost (25., Perisic)
0:3 Dost (82., Arnold)
1:3 Rupp (90. + 1)
1. FC Köln - FC Schalke 04 2:0 (1:0) 46,500 *
1:0 Risse (34., Nagasawa)
2:0 Gerhardt (89.)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 32 24 4 4 77:16 +61 76
2 VfL Wolfsburg 32 19 8 5 68:35 +33 65
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 32 18 9 5 50:23 +27 63
4 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 32 16 10 6 59:35 +24 58
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5 FC Augsburg 32 14 4 14 39:40 -1 46
6 FC Schalke 04 32 12 9 11 41:38 +3 45
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7 Borussia Dortmund 32 12 7 13 43:38 +5 43
8 Werder Bremen 32 11 10 11 48:60 -12 43
9 TSG Hoffenheim 32 11 8 13 47:52 -5 41
10 1. FC Köln (N) 32 9 12 11 32:36 -4 39
11 Eintracht Frankfurt 32 10 9 13 54:61 -7 39
12 1. FSV Mainz 05 32 8 13 11 43:45 -2 37
13 Hertha BSC Berlin 32 9 7 16 35:50 -15 34
14 Hamburger SV 32 8 8 16 22:48 -26 32
15 SC Freiburg 32 6 13 13 33:44 -11 31
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16 Hannover 96 32 7 10 15 36:54 -18 31
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17 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 32 7 10 15 30:62 -32 31
18 VfB Stuttgart 32 7 9 16 38:58 -20 30
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted